Upon My Return
by littleRionchan
Summary: Seiya's broken after the war, and there's nothing anyone alive can do to help him. So Saori had to resort to drastic measures to summon, someone who can. But what's this? What's lurking beneath the surface of a joyous family reunion? And more importantly...what can they do about it?
1. Chapter 1: Survivor's Guilt

((In dedication to a friend from tumblr, since he jump started this in my head in the first place.

- This person is hilarious. Whether you speak English or Portuguese. They might get a little frowny/touchy sometimes, but the writing is good, and the sarcasm is even better.

Do be warned, they aren't shy about the more...uh risque side of art so better not to browse his blog in school/at work/around young children =P.))

**-Start-**

He spent most of his days like that now; training himself into oblivion; torturing his body into getting stronger, faster, more precise.

...And it was nearly killing him. Every night, he stumbled semi-conscious back to his room, falling straight into sleep, sometimes not even changing out of his training gear. On the nights he couldn't sleep, he would star-gaze, eyes bleary, not really seeing, perched on top of the coliseum. He only ventured up the temples when he absolutely had too, preferring the residence and training grounds and hastily reconstructed barracks that housed the few remaining trainees.

They had to make him eat, or he'd just forget, something that became more and more common as time wore on. But every time they asked, he would only smile at them his old charming happy smile, that, though it hadn't changed a bit, felt shallow and empty, now. At first it was a relief to know that, even he had a breaking point. That he was, in truth, human like the rest of them, but even that guilty pleasure slipped away faced with the horrible plastic grin.

Their hope was broken, and try as hard as they might, they couldn't fix him.

_SsSsSsSs_

So Saori resorted to drastic measures.

"...Is there no other way?"

"I do not know, milady," the red haired silver saint sighed. "Even with my biases as his master, it is plain to me that I am not the one he needs, right now."

"Thank you Marin, you are dismissed." Saori bade her saint.

"Yes milady."

"But Marin, tell me honestly. Would you take this risk?"

"No milady, truthfully, it is ill-advised. I do not believe that he should be indulged in his loss, though great it is. We are your saints, we live and die indiscriminately in your service. It is selfish for him to act so." Marin replied though her back was already turned.

"Then why did you tell me all that you did?"

"You asked me how to...repair my student. I merely presented the name of the only man ever known to do so."

"...Thank you Marin." Saori sighed, watching the Aquila saint leave the throne room.

It was not worth the risk. it was not proper protocol. Athena raged angrily in the back of her mind.

Saori raised her hand and with a burst of cosmo called out.

"Come to me, Hermes!"

_SsSsSsSs_

"Seiya!" The Andromeda saint called.

"Yeah Shun?" There was that smile again, sweat stained and scratched up, but still just as frozen as before.

"Athena is calling for you." Shun smiled softly but sadly in reply.

"Oh? Sure...I'll be right up." He answered.

Shun stood by watching as his friend headed towards the Aries temple at a light jog, trying to hide a knee that was probably sprained iff not dislocated. He knew better than to mention it. Seiya in all his pretenses, wouldn't have taken note of it.

Climbing the steps took too long for Seiya, though he was going as quickly as he could with a bum knee. He couldn't help but remember. Remembering was dangerous. It was a place that Seiya knew if he allowed himself to slip in, he would never come back out. It was...

His bad foot slipped a little on a loose tile...the loose tile in front of the Leo temple. Quickly, he jumped back as if burned. It took a while for him to regain his calm, to retreat behind his frozen smile. He knew he was worrying everyone, using it so often. He wasn't that stupid. But they didn't understand. It was his last shield, his last bit of protection from an abyss that would swallow him whole otherwise. So he set his shoulders back, and he forced his spine to straighten, and he took a deep breath to draw on all the strength he could muster from the extremities of his body...and he smiled, bright, and cheerful, and painted on. He kept climbing, picking up the pace and not minding the pain that echoed through his leg as he pushed it too far past its limit.

His smile stayed until he reached Athena's main temple, only wavering a little now and again.

"Bronze saint of Pegasus, come for..."

"Just fucking come in, Seiya, I know it's you." The Cygnus saint rolled his eyes sarcastically. Seiya liked Hyouga. He played along.

The Pegasus walked in calmly, dragging his foot a little because of the abuse.

"Athena, I'm...here..."

Saori Kido sat on her place upon the pope's throne talking to a man...a man wearing the Leo Gold cloth who shouldn't be there.

"Seiya, you're here," Saori regarded the Pegasus saint with a smile. "Are you sur..."

"What did you do?" though the smile was still on his face, his voice wavered dangerously between laughter and rage. "Saori, _what did you do?_"

"Seiya, what do you mean?"

"To Ikki. **What did you do or say to Ikki to get him in on this RIDICULOUS SCHEME**?!" He nearly screamed. One could almost hear the cracking of his smile. When he next looked up, his eyes were glowing with a light that was not quite sane. His mouth twisted into a feral smirk. "He would never do it otherwise. Even Ikki's not that cruel. He **KNOWS**."

"Seiya, calm down!" It was the voice that did it. That same voice that once chided his mistakes, soothed his fears, reminded him to keep going...The same voice that haunted his dreams now.

"No, NO,_ I WILL NOT FUCKING **CALM DOWN**_! Is it because I'm broken _Athena-sama_? Your precious little dog isn't fighting fit any more so your throw him a bone? NOW?! You needed to, I dunno, shut me down for a while?" And there he was tripping down the path he should never go. "You thought you could help me with some **_SHAM DREAM_**?! You don't think the ones I already have torture me enough? Ikki, Ikki why are you doing this to me? You're not this cruel."

No matter how the goddess attempted to talk she could not get a word in edgewise. Even Hyouga stood dumbfounded at the door. The only calm one was the third man who already knew it was useless.

"I used to see this every night. Can you believe it?_ Every single fucking night_, and it never gets any better because then I wake up and have to remember that HE'S NOT COMING BACK! None of them are! Now everyday's just a new fight to make myself too tired to dream," his voice came out too injured, too hurt to be. He wasn't Seiya anymore. "I know you don't like it, ok? I'm not stupid. I don't like me either. But you don't get it, you pampered little princess. It's all I have."

He tried to step forward on his bad leg. His knee quit and sent the distraught teenager stumbling. He almost didn't catch himself.

"Don't do this to me."

That was when the punch collided solidly with his temple, sending his already injured body careening into the nearest column.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Athena-sama. Please excuse the child." His voice again, annoyed but amused.

"No you didn't have to...it was my fault to not have thought this through correctly." It was...an illusion, wasn't it? Why was she interacting with it? Was this all in his head now? Ikki wasn't that detailed.

"No milady, he's at fault here. No saint can make demands of his goddess. It's blasphemy. I will make sure to discipline him." He couldn't do this, not again. It was no use.

...And yet...

Seiya couldn't help a whimper when strong arms came to lift him up against the cool golden chest plate.

"You're a silly little pony." The figure gave a soft sigh. Gentle fingers carded through the wild brown hair.

Maybe...maybe just once more, it would be ok to believe.


	2. Chapter 2: Rediscover

When next Seiya woke up, it was in a bed that was familiar and yet not familiar. He groaned, a dull pain shooting through his head as he rolled over. Shoving the feeling aside - it wasn't the first time he's had a concussion - he sat up.

...Only to come face to face with a certain someone.

"Whoa there, someone's up early."

Brown eyes grew wide and then clenched shut. Hands came up to rub furiously at them, unable to quite believe what they were seeing.

"Hey now, I didn't hit you that hard." Aiolia laughed. The older man seemed to glow faintly, bathed in the soft light of the rising sun. Though he was close enough for Seiya to touch if he so chose, the boy was afraid to reach out. What if it was just another dream? What if the gold saint evaporated again, like he did in all the dreams prior.

...But how could he not?

Hesitantly hands came up, fumbling searching, finally grasping on to a wrist. Aiolia stayed neutral, letting his protegé find his bearings, coming closer only when Seiya tugged on his hand.

The bronze saint clutched at it like it was a lifeline, bringing the rough knuckles to his forehead and held them there. He hugged the arm to him nearly curling in on himself. The tears that he couldn't find yesterday welled up in his eyes. He tried to move closer from where he was sitting on Aiolia's bed. Getting the hint, the Leo saint approached, sitting on the bed besides Seiya and wrapped an arm around the shaking shoulders. Gently, he carded his fingers through the messy brown hair.

"Aiolia-san?" He whispered huddling into a broad shoulder.

"Yeah, it's me."

Seiya's fingers dug almost painfully into the hand pressed to his face. He started to cry, not the silent grudging tears of a soldier in battle, but in soft little gasps and whimpers like the fragile, hurt little boy he was never allowed to be. Aiolia didn't say anything. He only shifted a little closer to allow Seiya to feel for himself the Leo saint's seemingly impossible presence.

They stayed that way until the sun was high.

On that first day, Seiya planted himself as Aiolia's side. Heck, the Leo saint had a feeling that, had the little Pegasus not been too proud (and far far too old for such a thing), he would be bodily clinging to Aiolia's waist and hiding his face inside the folds of the older man's training tunic. While once upon a time, it might have been a little annoying at times to have the boy constantly at his knee - or elbow as it were - Aiolia was suprised to find that he quite liked the attention.

He really had been away for too long.

"Seiya, I'm not going to just disintegrate without warning," he chuckled as the boy nearly tripped over himself mid run.

"I didn't say that," Seiya protested trying to discreetly retreat a few steps, sending Aiolia into another bout of good natured laughter.

"You didn't have to." The little brunet had the grace to look embarrassed and turned away...which made him bait too good to pass up.

Aiolia reached a sneaky hand out and tried to flip the child all the way over. Surprisingly Seiya was quick enough to not only catch himself with a little yelp and avoid Aiolia's teasing, he somersaulted over the hand and tackled the older saint. Aiolia, too stopped his jab to catch the boy and slip him into a firm headlock. After the blistering Greek heat had driven them both out of the sheets, they had resumed training, pretty much for lack of better things to do. Perhaps it would have been better to sit under the shade of some tree or column and swap tales of their time apart, but they weren't that sort of people. Besides, Aiolia had been dead, and Seiya...well Seiya barely remembered what he had for breakfast yesterday. Training was a far better option.

Not that they were actually training. Playing was closer to the truth.

"Wa~! Aiolia-saaaaaaaaan!" Seiya protested forcing a wrist between his neck and a muscular bicep. "You're mean!"

Aiolia shifted his grip to trap both Seiya and his hand and lifted the boy up and left his legs dangling for a moment laughing. Until Seiya surprisingly managed to kick his legs up and flip his entire body to bend over the offending arm, slipping neatly out of the hold.

"Come on, Seiya you're a big boy now. You can take it!" He teased. "Learned a few moves I see."

"Of course! I wouldn't sit alone doing nothing!"

It was fun. Their voices could be heard throughout Sanctuary between the thundering of shattering rock making snide comments as they tried their best not to level the training field. For the first time in a very long time, they both honestly had fun. Seiya's joy shone from his brilliant eyes. Aiolia's bubbled at the corner of his grinning mouth.

They couldn't over do it though. Aiolia's new body still needed to adjust and Seiya was still injured. So, when the stuffy afternoon sun began to get more than marginally uncomfortable, they retreated up the steps.

...Or Aiolia did.

As they approached the marble stairway, Seiya looked more and more like he was marching off to a battle field. He hid it surprisingly well for a boy known to be brutally blunt. His footsteps fell steady. His back was straight. Even his breathing was controlled and even. If you didn't know him you would never see the slight forward tilt of his body, the tensing of his neck and shoulders, or those watchful glowing eyes shifting slowly back and forth.

Control...this was new. Did Seiya always have this much hold on his emotions? Has it really only been a year since the lion died?

They made it through Aries with no change in the boy's posture, but as soon ans he placed his foot down in Taurus, Seiya's smile became the frozen mask Aiolia had only glimpsed in the Pope's temple. They didn't make it through Gemini before his eyes were trained to the ground, trying not to look anywhere and, failing that, trying not to lose his head.

"Hurry up, Seiya," the gold saint called behind him. He kindly began to walk at his full gait so the boy could move a little faster and still keep up the charade. "We've got a temple to clean up. I can't believe you let it get that dirty while I was away."

"Yes Aiolia-san." The look he got from those large red-brown eyes was something between shame and gratefulness as Seiya trotted lightly to keep up with Aiolia's longer strides. They crossed cancer without incident, though Seiya looked a little guilty, perhaps for not mourning the caustic Cancer saint for more than he had. That was ok, getting better.

His temple stood grand and imposing as it had for centuries, cool, but well lighted inside. The little Pegasus was surprisingly enthusiastic...and efficient about helping to clean up. Watching him busily sweeping away at the years worth of collected dust and dirty footprints, Aiolia allowed his mind to wander. In his mind, the threadbare training gear and fraying leather guards evaporated and were replaced by the soft white cotton robes and delicate little sandals. What if Marin had indeed made little Seiya an acolyte like he'd originally suggested in that first year? Would he have been safer at least...and happier, perhaps? He shook his head to clear such ridiculous thoughts. His vision melted away back to the young man working as hard as he trained in supple brown training armor.

What would have there been to be happy about?

They worked until the sun had snuck close to the horizon, bathing the entire temple in gold. Someone had rebuilt his back edifice from where the Athena's exclamation demolished it. From the little finger sized scratches on the stones...Aiolia had a feeling he knew who did.

"Alright buddy, we're done for the day," he announced, and amused smile playing on his lips. "Go clean up. You smell horrible. Then we'll get something to eat. You can use my bath."

The minute he stopped speaking the shy sideways glance told Aiolia that he'd said the wrong thing.

"Yes sir." Though his head dipped in a little bow, Seiya still danced around him. The boy tried to gather up all the cleaning supplies all the while those luminous eyes shifted back and forth trying to keep themselves trained upon the older man. What happened to him in those dreams of Seiya dreaded so much? Aiolia sighed. He came over and picked the child up by the scruff of the neck like a misbehaved little kitten. "Dear Athena, you are slow," he complained with good humor. "I suppose I've got no choice."

With Seiya dangling from his hand, he marched to the large marble bathing pool in his temple and threw the nervous child in, clothes and all. It was a good thing it was meant for more than one person.

The pool was part of a system of similar such devices all connected to the same river. The spring fed the Pope's palace directly and flowed down the mountain by each of the temples, branched off as it were to each individual pool all of which had a duct for the water to rejoin the stream. Thus the water in each of the baths was constantly changed and renewed.

Seiyasurfaced, sputtering. He pouted cutely up from the center of a gentle whirlpool that washed away the fine layer of dust that hadd settled over him today. His normally upswept mahogany hair fell limply over his forehead.

It was cuter than it should be.

"Aiolia-san! That's not funny!" The boy protested over the gold saint's roaring laughter.

"Yes it is! It's your own fault for moving at a snails pace, Seiya." The lion insisted taking off his sweaty clothing and wading in himself. Seiya's one visible eye, incredulous and hopeful, gazed up at him in surprise. Aiolia ignored it, pushing the boy over to divest the little Pegasus of his rags as well, throwing them out of the pool. "You're getting rid of those. They're paper thin."

"They're not that bad," Seiya replied sullenly. "I could've gotten another week out of them."

"Seiya, only you would wear frayed leather."

The water was cool, a delight in the stifling summer heat. It lapped softly at the small of Aiolia's back as he carefully rubbed all the dirt and grime out of the soft chocolate curls. Seiya began to relax as they washed shoving aside whatever nervous tension he had to be dealt with another time. It was a good thing he had long since mastered the art of random conversation.

It was funny. Without his usual armor or clothes, Seiya looked strangely small, fragile, not at all like the confident young bronze saint he had left at the wailing wall. And yet, he wasn't like the boy who had come to Sanctuary either, cheeky and shifty, watching for those meaning ill. Intense and yet unassuming, there was an air of easy willing trust about him that was perhaps dangerously naïve, and a touch of neediness Aiolia wasn't sure he liked. It was almost shocking to remember the superhuman feats his boy had done...almost. For as broken as the boy appeared, there was a peculiar glow about him that inspired faith for the better.

Aiolia looked hard as he scrubbed, searching between those narrow shoulders, the thin neck, the slightly stooped spine and slight torso for where Seiya had drawn all that strength from, especially now when it was apparent that the young bronze saint had lost a worrying amount of body fat in the last year. And he hadn't gained much muscle mass to make up for it. Oh well, Aiolia would make sure ot fix that soon enough.

For now, he'll just keep Seiya as close as he could without alarming the little guy. Such an anxious cub he had.

The boy looked adorable in his old clothes though.

"Uh...Aiolia-san, I'm not sure about this." Seiya laughed hesitantly. He picked at the too-big neckline of the new shirt. The fabric draped off his shoulders like a very short robe, the drawing string pants, while they hugged the small waist ballooned around Seiya's slender legs comically. So either his clothes had magically gronw bigger...or Seiya's lost a lot of weight in the last year.

"Huh, you know you're smaller than I remembered you being. I stopped wearing that when I was 12," The lion laughed into his fist as he watched Seiya fold those slender arms against his chest and frown. "Aw...aren't you cute? Such a cute little baby pony."

He probably shouldn't be teasing a kid going through survivors syndrome...but Seiya made it way too easy. With a chuckle, he swung the sullen child into his arms and over his shoulder with a soft 'thwump'. Seiya really was swimming in the old clothes.

"Now it's dinner time."

It was at dinner that he'd picked up on something seriously wrong. Now Aiolia was no five star chef, but his cooking skills were usually edible. On top of that, Seiya had never been a particularly picky eater, consuming anything put down in front of him and askign for thrids and fourths before he was done...even food that had been near rotting or burnt black. Not like he was the only one though. Orphaned children often did, and looked quite happy even eating the shitty barracks rations.

This Seiya wasn't eating.

Or he wasn't eating the way he should be. He seemed to be acting normally shoving spoonfuls into his mouth. In fact the entire plate was gone in about ten minutes, but even as he nodded when Aiolia asked him for seconds, Seiya was starting to look sick. He was chewing with some difficulty and his face had paled slightly. He couldn't even finish his second plate, though he tried to force it up until Aiolia slapped a hand down on the table in front of him.

"Kid, that's enough," Aiolia demanded, feeling a little sad when guilty brown eyes stared up at him like a spooked deer. The lion's first instinct was to roar and slap Seiya a good one upside the head. He wanted to take the silly child and shake some common sense into him. Didn't the boy understand the concept of limits. There was only os far you can take a charade. His second instinct was to snatch the shaking bronze saint closer to him, to ask 200 million questions and find out exactly why Seiya couldn't even bring himself to eat. Neither of those were options, so he stood there, glaring down ah his hands until he was calm enough to act.

Aiolia walked over and pushed the plate away from the boy gently, sitting down next to him.

"I can understand putting up a show," he began softly eyes catching the almost unnoticeable flinch, " I really can. I can also understand not wanting to cry wolf when you don't think it's serious enough that you can't 'take it like a man'. Hell, I can even understand hiding so you don't worry people...but I cannot understand why the hell you thought you could ever fool around with me."

"...I'm sorry. I thought..."

"If you can't eat anymore, Seiya, just say so, huh?" He cut the child off. He didn't need an explanation right now. The most important parts are something that Seiya probably couldn't understand himself, much less explain. That was something they were just going to have to work on. It was alarming, to find out how bad off Seiya really was, but Aiolia brushed the feeling aside. There will be time enough to be concerned later. "I'm not going to get angry at you."

"Yes sir."

They didn't talk after that, not even the idle chit-chat they had in the bath. Aiolia finished his food as well as what was left of Seiya's and began to clear the table. Briefly, he wondered if maybe Seiya wanted to be left alone to his thoughts for now, but Seiya got up with him and also began to collect dishes. Thought he didn't quite look at the Leo like he did before, Seiya always stayed only a few feet behind him.

It was not until he climbed into bed that night that he heard Seiya's voice again, much softer, chastised.

"Aiolia-san...can...can I stay in your room tonight?" He toddled uncertainly at the door, shifting from foot to foot so often that Aiolia wondered if maybe he would fall over. In the dim light that lit those wide eyes a brilliant scarlet and the too big clothes that swathed the rest of him in shadow, Seiya made a haunting figure. Something ached inside Aiolia just to look at him. With no further ado, he stood back up and strode across the room, taking a thin wrist in his hand and tugging the younger saint inside and prodding him into the sheets still unmade from this morning. There were no pretenses anymore in either of them. They were too tired for it; all semblances of normalcy having flown out the window after the disastrous dinner. The minute Aiolia laid down beside him small hands latched onto his arm and a forehead found his shoulder to bury into. Aiolia wound his other arms around the back that felt too delicate now, and coddled the little brunet to him. He threaded a hand into the soft chocolate colored curls.

Seiya sank into his touch, almost desperately, his grip tightening a little. Now and again, those red eyes would flutter close and the breaths coming from between the thin lips would even out peacefully. But always in the next few minutes they would snap open in alarm and his breathing would speed up and become unsteady.

"Ssh, sleep now."

"I don't wanna wake up."

"I won't disappear."

"You always do."

"How many times?"

"Every night."

"Not tonight."

"You've said that before."

"I promise you."

"You've said that before too."

All Aiolia could do was cradle the little Pegasus close to him and whisper his assurances every time those crimson eyes appeared. Seiya finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning clutching to his father figure like a vice.


	3. Chapter 3: Chasms

((Wa~ sorry guys a little bit late. Between moving and university, my inspirations just dried up. Turns out deviatign to Sengoku Basara was good for me. and helped my idea flow :D.))

Bronze Andromeda Shun: Oh yes GOD get that guy away from me HE'S A BAD INFLUENCE! =P. touche' my dear friend, touche'.

Ame no itekki: As much as I didn't really want o break Seiya (it hurt me to write this inside) I think expecting him to be all peachy keen and happy-go-luck after the Hades chapter is ridiculous. I've run into so many fanfics exploring the other bronze saints after the fact, but there's only been a handful where the author explored the psychological damage that must have happened to my precious Pegasus.

Matsukaze Tenma: THANK YOU! *hugs* I hope you come ot enjoy my story!

:::..:::

Aiolia frowned as he regarded the boy that sat before him trying to finish his breakfast.

After that first day, Seiya stopped smiling around him. Aiolia wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He didn't want to needle the boy. That wasn't his style. At the same time, the clinginess was starting to get disconcerting.

Not that he would risk leaving the boy to his own devices even if he could. The problem was deeper than he had imagined.

It wasn't just the eating. Seiya was a little more honest about what he could take now, but Aiolia could tell that he was forcing at least a few more spoonfuls than he wanted. That was probably just residual authority he had over the kid.

When they had begun to train for real, however, something came up that hadn't happened during their tom foolery: recklessness.

Now Seiya had never been the cleverest child on the planet, and Sanctuary training and the subsequent war had required him to take huge risks quickly and often. That wasn't the problem. The problem was he no longer quite cared about the consequences of those risks.

Like that very morning when Seiya had literally jumped off a mountain in of their morning warm-up.

Tch, kids

...then again, there once was another young gold saint who had been like that too wasn't there?

Giving it no more thought, Aiolia ushered his charge back down to Sanctuary proper.

To the human eye all that appeared was a myriad of white and gold flashes that shimmered above the canyon.

To knowing eyes there were two men dancing a dangerous waltz around each other: one that, though fairly young, had ripened into the confidence of man hood, and one that couldn't be more than a child. They were entirely focused on one another, always face to face as they punched and kicked, their energies colliding in mid-air.

To say Aiolia was impressed would be an understatement. Seiya was much stronger than when they had trained last, the child slipping in and out of his guard like a fish, tapping into his seventh sense almost easily. What's more, Seiya fought reactively, he moved around Aiolia instead of directly going against him….wise, as the gold saint was still the stronger of the two….and yet not a style he would have associated with Seiya.

It was exhilarating.

Aiolia launched a lightning bolt his way, to which Seiya climbed the air like a bird. Avoiding the blast and vaulting himself into the sky, a mistake. On the ground the lion wove a web of crackling electricity sending it to engulf the younger bronze saint, with all intentions to snatch the boy when Seiya inevitably blasted himself sideways.

…Only he didn't. Closer the death field came and still Seiya made no move to evade it, tucking his arms and legs in so that he spiraled down even faster. Aiolia was barely fast enough to snatch the foolish child out of the air before he plummeted to his destruction. Though the dappled white cosmos burned his hands as he grabbed the child, Aiolia threw the younger saint against the cliff in equal measures of anger and fear.

"What THE HELL was that!" he roared, the solid rock of the hillside crumbling as Seiya body was slammed into it. The younger boy flinched, a pained moan slipping through his cracked lips. "You have ten seconds to tell me what the shit you were thinking, boy."

"A-Aiolia-san…itte," The younger saint gasped. Aiolia eased his grip on the delicate throat. Seiya was way too thin.

"Start."

"I…I was going to use the feedback from your attack to…detonate the area, and….use it as cover." The little Pegasus explained between breaths.

"You idiot! You would've been caught in the explosion!" The Leo saint snarled.

"I was counting on that." Seiya murmured. "I…I found a way to…protect myself…one day while training. It it worked. I'd have been able to slip and land a hit for real this time."

"If it worked…you gambled your life on an if? During training? You need to tell me when you pull crap like that." The olden saint grumbled, the initial shock having worn out. "How'd you even get the idea in the first place?"

"There was a cave-in a while back in one of the obstacle courses where I was helping a few trainees through. The last twenty….they weren't fast enough, so I panicked and reacted.…No one died." Seiya explained quietly. It was a change Aiolia was still getting used to. "We backtracked an dug our way out…a couple broken legs, one paraplegic…but at least I managed to save everyone."

The boy looked at his hand with an ironic smile.

"For once, something ended up not so badly."

Of course a Pegasus child would think like that.

"So you thought you'd try it again out of the blue?" Aiolia asked as he squatted down next to the boy. "Not that I'm not glad you managed to survive, but Seiya…"

"That's just it Aiolia-san. I think I've gotten it down!" For the first time in a while, a spark of genuine excitement lit up the mahogany brown eyes. For a moment he felt like the old Seiya again. "I've been practicing with it….and I think I know how to do it now!"

"You have?" Aiolia questioned off-handedly. He made note to have a firm talk with the other bronze saints about not telling him about these types of stunts. "That's new. If your friends had told me, I won't have tossed you quite so hard."

Even this broken, Seiya was a horrible liar. The pause said more than the boy knew.

"Seiya, why don't they know?"

"….They wouldn't help me…." The boy shrugged.

That was weird.

Suspicious, Aiolia bade the boy rest for the day. After all, Seiya's knee was still sprained, and that little ordeal had shaken Aiolia's confidence in him a bit. That was not to say he left the child. That was an exercise in futility itself. He did however, step away from ear shot when Hyouga came knocking.

"Cygnus," he greeted Camus's student calmly.

"Leo Aiolia," the younger boy nodded. "I heard he...Is there something I can help you with?"

"Seiya tired to pull a peculiar defensive move on me this morning…a kind of reckless one."

"He's still trying that?!" The swan knew enough to keep his voice at a whisper, but he was angry. "I told him to leave it."

"Why, from what he said it saved twenty kids…sounds pretty useful."

The ice saint seemed about to say something but hesitated. Blue eyes flitted uncertainly this way and that before they finally made a decision.

"We don't know 'what' exactly saved those kids. They didn't know enough to tell us what was happening…and Seiya….Seiya was completely out of it."

: :

_Flashback_

_They all felt the earthquake. It was nothing serioussome rough shaking but that was all For the legendary saint soothing the trainees, it was almost laughable_

_Until one young saint-to-be spoke up._

"_I'll bet your little girl friend is crying in the corner right now."_

"_Hey! Shut up! She's not my girlfriend! And she shouldn't?"_

"_How do you know that?"_

"_She's in the cave with Seiya-sensei today."_

_And then the earthquake was no longer quite as funny. They dashed to the entrance of Seiya's favorite subterranean training course, but the entire entrance had collapsed. Even a saint would find it hard to survive with literal tons of rocks falling upon them from above. Shun was the first to let out a strangled gasp in horror. Desperately they began to dig, hands clawing through earth and stone As they kept up for an hour…two, they began to lose hope. Still, numbly, they kept digging._

_Even…even if they were too late…they had to at least find the bodies, give them proper burials. _

_That is until, suddenly, the seemingly endless wall of rock gave way and a hand groped outside at the light. A trainee. And then there was another, and another. One by one small bodies struggled with some assistance out of the rubble. Five…twelve….seventeen._

_And one bronze saint with a child on either shoulder and one cradled in his left arm, pushing through with his broken right one. The moment he handed the kids to Shiryu, the Pegasus saint crumpled and knew no more._

_No one knew what had happened, how they had all miraculously survived…not even Seiya himself._

_A few weeks later the frustrated young man with choppy brunette hair fell to the side, buffeted by an icy gust of wind. He brought up his hands against it, but did nothing else, staying still as if uncertain what to do. Just when a dappled white light burst out all over his skin, the blizzard stopped._

"_Hyouga?" He opened one eye, puzzled. The blonde in front of him didn't reply, withdrawing his hands. "Hyouga! I almost got it."_

"_Seiya," the older boy snapped, "Are you fucking shitting me right now? I nearly froze you!"_

_The brunette's frowned, annoyed._

"_I can handle it. I have before."_

_The Russian's mouth pressed into a firm line, glaring at his younger friend. _

"_Obviously not! You didn't even activate your cosmo that time!"_

"_I WILL! I was going to, finally have a grasp on it and then you stopped!" _

_Hyouga was taken aback. Seiya had never roared like that at him before. Rage and pain wracked the air. He couldn't stand hearing them in Seiya's voice, of all people, so he approached his younger half-brother with all intentions to be gentle, to soothe the boy and offer him a compromise. Or he was until he spied the purpling skin on the inside of the slender arms. Hyouga reach out and snatched one of the arms pulling it until the wounds were revealed. Both arms were heavily bruised, the skin near splitting, only the dappled white cosmo was keeping them from freezing over completely._

"_You're bleeding."_

"_I'm fine."_

"_Seiya."_

"_I'm FINE!"_

_End flashback_

_: :_

"A minute longer, a minute, and he would've lost those proud arms of his," the young bronze saint finished. He was now sitting at the Pegasus saint's beside, the younger whom was fast asleep. "It was stupid, and I told him as much. I couldn't do it anymore, and neither could Shun or Shiryu. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't remember. Just groping blindy for something that might just be a stroke of dumb luck; I can't do it. Why tempt fate?"

Aiolia gave a slight nod, in sympathy or consternation, he wasn't sure.

"He says he's been training himself…says he's almost got it down now."

"He can't have. What he was trying to do, he'd need to be attacked on all sides." Hyouga shook his head. "There's no way."

"…I hope you're right, Cygnus." The great lion sighed.

Eventually, the swan saint rose and left Aiolia to his own thoughts.…or so the boy had believed.

"It's not polite to fake sleep when you have a guest Seiya," the gold saint said pointedly once Hyouga was gone. He peered almost lazily down to regard the youngest saint in Sanctuary whose brown eyes were wide open now.

"Yes Aiolia-san."

"I'm going to get some water…when I come back, let's have a nice chat. You've been training quite a bit." He spoke neutrally, ignoring even the hand that came up in a futile attempt to tug on his cape. Perhaps in a sadistic desire to punish the small boy, for what he wasn't quite sure of yet, Aiolia took his time. He kept his eyes trained on the entrance of the temple, though he knew for sure Seiya wouldn't have left.

Lions are dangerous when they're mad.

When he came back with the water, Seiya had gotten up. The child sat hunched over his knees his breaths coming in panicking wet gasps. His eyes flashed to the door way the moment Aiolia returned, only his lingering doubt prevent the child from throwing himself at the older man. Aiolia set the water pitcher down on the bedside table, pausing to pour Seiya a glass of the cool sweet well water. Delicate hands nearly fumbled the glass as they shook uncontrollably.

"You told me you'd be honest with me Seiya. Let's try that again."

For a while silence weighed down the atmosphere.

"They didn't understand," Seiya finally whimpered. "I had to get stronger. I _had_ to learn."

He watched the small fingers dig into the glass, leaving fingerprints on the polished surface.

"it was a defensive move, Aiolia-san, it's the only one I've really got…and it's strong! Strong enough to withstand an assault from all directions, the absolute defense….All I had to do was remember. They wouldn't help me, not Hyouga, not Shun, Shiryu would even hear of it. Just as I'm about to remember…they'd stop, and they wouldn't help me anymore."

"What did you do?" Aiolia asked, his voice remained unassuming but his eyes narrowed dangerously at the near hysterical grin on Seiya's face. It looked like a childish jigsaw puzzle, a perverted twisted combination of inspiration and euphoria. Dear goddess, the boy was _proud_ of nearly killing himself. The lion gently pried the glass from the bronze saint's hands before it shattered between those twitching fingers.

"I went back to the source," Seiya whispered.

"The cave has collapsed, I heard."

: :

_Flashback_

_A small neat fist buried itself in the stone wall of a cavern, slicing through the rock as easily as through water. He sent his cosmos drilling into the stone wall, creating holes, weakening the foundation. And then all it took was one rough tug and the entire cave began to rumble. It was a far cry from the subterranean caves he'd employed for the past 4 months, which didn't afford the kind of hopeless on-rush of power that he needed against him, a merciless unceasing frontal assault._

_The young brown haired boy crossed his arms before himself but made no move to run, his dappled white aura only making itself known at the very last second. He limped home that night._

_End Flashback_

_: :_

"There are ones…people don't go to, and when those weren't an option anymore…I went deep into the mountain range iI didn't need a ceiling really…"

"How long?" There was a snarl behind the question. Mahogany eyes peered up at him, sad but firm. For the first time Aiolia could remember, Seiya openly challenged him with those brilliant orbs.

"6 months, 4 to remember 2 to…"

He wasn't given a chance to finish, cut off by Aiolia picking him up by the scruff of the neck. In quick long strides they were back at the field where the older saint roughly dropped him against the sandy brown rock.

"Show me," the blonde man growled. "Show me what you thought was worth six months of suicide."

Seiya had always been proud of his hands. They were quick, harsh, jabbing appendages that slugged the opponent hundreds of times before the second was up, taking them by surprise and dealing heavy damage. Like Aiolia, Seiya's hands were the tools of his trade, his ultimate weapons. So it came as a complete surprise when he didn't use them at all. Open and relaxed they crossed in front of him as if he was just trying to keep them out of the way rather than protecting his face. Then, without warning, Seiya took off barreling across the training field much to his mentor's confused annoyance.

At least it was until the flashes began to appear, every time something went within 8 or 10 feet of his body…suddenly it wasn't, even obstacles he should have knocked into don't seem to have ever existed at all. In fact, the regions and objects that entered in imperceptible bubble, seemed to have evaporated completely leaving only flashes of hot white energy behind...energy enough melt the immediate environment to a smooth glass finish.

Then he did reach out and finally those hands did something, but not what they were supposed to.

Fingers ran feather light against air as whatever he was determined to touch simply evaporated before his hands in a wisp of pure white light. When he came to a stop before the cliff side, his…presence?...was almost blinding as the entire rock wall lit up, and a distant depression was eating away at the rough stone, wearing it smooth. In Seiya's wake was nothing but a worn flat wasteland, the former landscape eradicated to something beyond beyond dust…beyond atoms

"Pegasus…Senkou Senyou." He whispered as the light died away. "Senkou is for flash…for light. Senyou means to borrow something extremely personal."

A smile…an embarrassed rueful smile like a kid with his hand caught in a candy jar took over his face.

"It took me so long to remember….they were just falling rocks. Surely a saint of legend…" the young saint chuckled hands threading back into his chocolate brown curls. "Surely…even a bronze saint could fight just that."

Aiolia said nothing he only walked towards his charge silently, stretching out an arm to catch the foolish child as the boy staggered. None too gently, he tossed the shivering body over one shoulder. As they walked his golden cosmos enveloped the boy, searching, overpowering Seiya's own diminished control to put the boy firmly to sleep.

When they got back to the Leo temple he threw the child into his bath and washed him of the dust and sweat. Then Aiolia set to work.

He should have known. How had he not known? Seiya never thought of telling people of his injuries, rather it would not be a stretch to believe the child knew nothing of pain at all.

Rough, but sure hands sought and found all the breaks and fractures half healed from Seiya's own naturally quick rate of recovery. They re-broke the ones that had healed awkwardly or wrong…probably from struggling out of bed long before the body was ready. It took a while, there were so many. And periodically, he had to stop and pressed Seiya forcefully back to sleep as the boy stirred from the sharp pain.

So now, he's hurt.

It took him until evening; there was so much to do. Far too many things ran through his mind and Aiolia had to forced himself into a semi meditative state to clear it. Otherwise, he could have injured Seiya even worse. By the end, he too was shaking; from anger or weariness, he didn't know. Yet they still cradled the slender light…too light…body to him.

Damn this child. Damn this boy in the name of all twelve Olympians, of Hecate, or Hades, and whatever have you. He was a Leo saint…he wasn't cut out for this babysitting bullshit.

_For once, everything turned out not so badly._

_I had to get stronger. I had to learn._

_Surely, even a bronze saint could fight just that._

He let go when his bruising grip cause Seiya to wince in his sleep. So he stuck to patting, stroking the messy chocolate curls.

Was it his fault? Where and how did the boy create this monstrous image of a saint? Why would Seiya believe that an endless force…thousands of tons of solid rock, could be stopped by any one person, any saint. No one, not even the gods have ever defied Gaia, she who is older still than the titans, and won.

And that was not even the most disturbing question. Aiolia laid down beside Seiya's prone figure, the boy immediately but unconsciously sought him out; a curious forehead found the hollow of his clavicle; delicate arms wrapped around the small of his waist. Even the clever little feet attempted to tangle with his own.

Just how much damage did little Seiya sustain? Or rather, how much of the strong unrelenting Pegasus saint had just been an illusion, a coping mechanism to swallow all the weakness all the guilt that rotted his child liked a disease.

Yes…his child. Seiya was his, now. It couldn't be any other way.


	4. Chapter 4: Liar's Game

Ok! Guys I'm probably going to drop off for a little bit, it being midterm/project season. In the meanwhile, do enjoy!

Forewarning: The chapter does get a little risque later but I had the scene fade to black. I don't think it alters the T rating of this fic, but just incase i hope you don't take offense.

If you have the time, please don't hesitate to review. I always want to see what my readership likes/don't like. Especially Marin whom I'm gettign the nippy feeling I'm not playing right O.o, but she's as close to what I think she might be as I can make her.

:::..:::

Hyouga kicked, annoyed at a rock, sending it ricocheting off a nearly column. It was too damn hot in Greece, the weather making him unnecessarily agitated. At least the blistering sun was beginning its descent down. He should already be back in Siberia; working to restore the training grounds there, but if he left now...

Well, Aiolia was taking care of Seiya wasn't he? But something still pricked uneasily at his mind.

"I would watch your step Cygnus Hyouga," a mild voice interrupted his thoughts. "You're uncommonly close to the female training grounds."

"Aquila Marin," his eyes snapped to the boulder on which she perched delicately. "I'm sorry."

A slight nod acknowledged his apology before she descended onto his level.

Marin was one of those saints Hyouga seldom if ever had any contact with. Not only was he usually not in Sanctuary, she seemed to be a saint who generally kept to her own devices. Now that he had the leisure to look, however, it was stunning the similarities between master and pupil.

Marin, too, did not look like much as first glance. Like Seiya she was petite and streamlined, smooth, her muscles flowing seamlessly into each other, not losing definition but not breaking the sweeping lines of her body. Her legs were long for her height and tapered, strong, melding into finely arched feet that didn't look like they were touching the ground. Those heels, he noticed, were uncommonly sharp, talons.

A body made to run, a body made to fly, a body made to kill; that was Aquila Marin.

However, unlike Seiya whose every thought was open for the viewing of the world, or Shaina whose volatile poisonous nature burgeoned upon her hidden face, you couldn't really see Marin. The flawless silver mask and its cool finish only completed red haired saint's enigmatic visage, turning woman into void. No body language, no voice inflection could penetrate the blank façade. Unbidden, alarms went off in his head. This woman was dangerous.

"You are uneasy," he was dragged abruptly out of his reverie. "Is there something wrong?"

"I…" Hyouga made a split second decision. "I heard that you were the one who suggested to Athena to bring Aiolia back. Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but why? Aren't you his teacher? Shouldn't he be closer to you?"

The accusations went unvoiced. She gave no sign that she heard. Hyouga nearly jumped when he heard the soft unassuming reply.

"I am his master. That is true." her voice remained that unnerving steady cadence, "But surely, having spent the last two years watching him; even you can see that he does not pick up his behavioral cues from me. What could I have done? That child knows everything I could have thought to say…be logical; be strong; let go of your guilt. Wouldn't that have hurt him even worse? Seiya and I..."

Just then she turned just so and the setting sun reflected almost blindingly into his eyes.

"…we aren't alike."

And then, as suddenly as she appeared, the silver saint was gone. Hyouga, taken by surprise, stood there staring after her, not quite sure just what had transpired between them. He would later shake himself as he lay abed forcibly brushing it off and go about his usual routine, telling absolutely no one.

::

On Marin's part, her gait led the female saint to the marble steps of the Leo temple.

"Aquila, Marin, permission to enter?" She called clearly, without shouting.

"So formal," a gruff voice chuckled from the inside. The lion emerged from his den, catching the light just so that he was wreathed in rose gold. "You're gonna make me all awkward."

"If you're going to be awkward, Aiolia, it is no one's fault but your own." She replied evenly. Very slightly her face turned. "You seem to be adjusting, da ne…Seiya?"

A tuff of brown hair, followed by a narrow shoulder, and a youthful face with a shy quirk at the corner of the small mouth showed evidence of the child that stood just inside the older man's shadow.

"Welcome back Marin-san."

Very briefly one gloved hand came up to pat his narrow shoulder as she entered into the temple. It was so familiar, and yet, it had been so very long ago. They all felt it, this remnant of a bygone era.

Nevertheless, Marin seamlessly slid into the domestic setting, almost as if she had never left. Dinner was a study in and of itself, both adults pointedly not looking overly much at Seiya. They kept the conversation light, fleeting, bantering good naturedly between themselves in their own special way.

For his part, Seiya simply sat there, relaxing in ways he'd long forgotten. He actually tasted the food in his mouth, enjoying the way thick broth of the stew, the sweet vegetables, and the savory meat coalesced on his tongue. He still couldn't eat so much – his body wasn't used to it anymore – but what he ate he enjoyed.

Seiya had woken up with the kind of ripping ache he'd come to associate with good hard training. Though he didn't do that the day prior, he supposed maybe Aiolia had done more damage than he'd previously thought. On the other hand, his feet felt vaguely normal again, and so did his shoulder. He has been excited to try them out today, but after his morning lap around the Sanctuary, the older saint had seemed almost disapproving as he sequestered Seiya inside.

He was probably still angry, but at the same time, the gold saint had stayed even closer to his charge than normal, finding excuses to touch him, either physically or with his cosmos. Aiolia had never done that while he was irritated before.

It was nice all the same. Even now, when they weren't paying him much attention, Seiya found himself lulled to drowsiness by the soft mellow voices and gentle hum of conversation. The temple itself was neither too warm nor too cold. His eyes grew, glassy, heavy, tired despite the excess of sleep he had yesterday.

"Someone should probably head to bed." A voice chuckled. Strong, gentle hands prodded him up. Blinking, the bleary brown eyes looked up into the reflective steel of Marin's mask. He could see himself reflected in the twin eye sockets, like two glass pools. "It's late, Seiya."

"Ah…kedo," Seiya looked a little crestfallen, reflexively slipping back into Japanese, but he knew better than to refuse Marin anything. "Hai."

But that didn't mean he couldn't drag his feet all the way there.

It was stupid, and he knew this. It was really, really stupid. He was already 15…an adult by sanctuary standards, a saint. But there was something in him that was desperately afraid that the familiar dream he had felt at dinner, would evaporate away behind his back. Something that picked at the back of his mind, telling him that his beloved peace wasn't peace at all, but a mask for something truly terrible waiting to happen.

It was total bullshit.

Aiolia was back now. At least Aiolia was back now. Although the untimely demise of Saga, Mu, Alde…no stop thinking Seiya…the other gold saints still cut him to the quick, having Aiolia around to conduct him gently through the day, had eased him immensely. He really should stop bothering the Leo saint now. Aiolia deserved time to himself too.

Firmly, Seiya walked, spine straight to the bathroom to brush his teeth before he hesitated at one of the doors between there and Aiolia's room…it was the one he always used as a young trainee. Maybe…

"That hasn't been opened in three years, boy. Surely you don't think I'd let even you sleep in there," a deep warm laugh floated down the hall. The blonde man stepped forwards and affectionately ruffled is brown hair leaning down to look at eye level with the little Pegasus. "Don't force yourself. It's ok to heal slowly."

And then he smiled, bright and understanding and encouraging, so much that the boy was caught helpless, eyes wide, half way between smiling himself and crying. It was not the Pegasus bronze saint that Aiolia ushered to bed that night.

It was however, the Pegasus bronze saint who forced himself back into sleep when Aiolia got up an hour and 45 minutes later. Even the great lion needed his own time…Seiya will not fuss tonight.

::

Aiolia was fully aware that he'd woken the younger boy up in his escape. The child, who would normally have been a dead weight as soon as his head hit the pillow, was now a surprisingly light sleeper. He could only hope that Seiya has not been roused enough that he couldn't drift idly back into slumber given time. It was cowardly of him…and in another life Aiolia would have beaten his own face in for it, but the truth of the matter was, he didn't particularly care right now. He needed to be away. He had for a while; it was just Marin's impromptu presence tonight that made the urge, and excuse, so much more tempting.

"He's getting to you isn't he?" Her soft whisper lifted his face to look into the mocking semblance of a face. Marin evidently did not trust her own student not to listen in.

"You couldn't handle it either huh?" the gold saint replied hoarsely. And so it seems, neither did he. A rueful smile, so different from the one he had shown Seiya, morphed his face into one that was almost unrecognizable. "Che, of course, you would never call me back of your accord."

She was silent for a while. Had Aiolia not known better, he would have thought that she was embarrassed.

"I would not have troubled my goddess, only for that."

If nothing else, Marin was the honest sort, brutally honest, and that was what the lion appreciated most in his lover. With her, there was no glossy façade behind which she hated him. There were no honeyed words reserved for him because he was a gold saint; he was an outcast, sure, but still a gold saint. So of course he trusted her implicitly. It was almost funny that Seiya could take this charade to be some sort of relationship, even excusing his childishness, but if it made him happy, neither he nor Marin had any intention to rectify that.

Aiolia didn't bother with a chair and sat down by the hearth where a fire burned merrily chin propped on his clasped hands. It didn't matter if summer was only barely over; a peculiar chill had made itself home inside his very bones.

"My, you really are shaken, aren't you? Was it that bad?" the red-haired woman cooed softly. Without his noticing, Marin had made her way beside him. Her hands, surprisingly devoid of the usual rough gloves, came to cup his cheeks, thumbs caressing the slight almost translucent peach fuzz along his jawline. "Feels just like the old days huh?"

"Don't mock me, Marin," he grumbled back, but there was no real bite to the words. "The old days were nothing like this."

Knowing where this was going to take them, Marin finally removed the cold steel barrier between them.

"True…he was a lot cuter when he was 7." For not being related to him, the young woman looked much like her pupil. She had the same rounded face, the same low brow, the same button nose. The only differences were her slightly slanted hazel eyes and lips that always looked as if they were pouting.

Seiya's eyes were like Aiolia's had been before he grew out of them; large and almond shaped, they were set wide and curious, nearly too big for his baby face.

Or they used to be. Still childish, those crimson eyes had taken on a nervousness Aiolia couldn't help but despise. It was the nervousness of an abused puppy, begging for help. It was the same look that he used to have a long time ago, back during the darkest chapter of his life. It didn't belong in Seiya's warm brilliant orbs. If only he could get to the root of that pain and turn it into stardust to relight the fire the boy once had instead. What would his brother…

To distract himself from the thought, Aiolia dipped to kiss the full pink lips hands coming up to touch and paw like the great cat he was at his partner. She sank into him, soft and pliant. It was a relief, something familiar in this recent upheaval of everything he thought he once knew. Since he'd come back, everything Aiolia had seen had made him question himself, shaken the very foundations of his resolve as a gold saint. It was dangerous for Aiolia to question himself.

The last time he had done this, he had just found out Aiolos was in the right all along…which, technically, had also been Seiya's fault he mused.

So he dived down; dived deeply back into something he could understand letting the feeling of soft warm lips, the fine silky skin, the delicate exquisite heat wash over him like a healing spell.

Now it was Aiolia's turn for peace. Amidst the quiet gasps he shared with the beautiful Aquila saint, he too settled into lethargy strong enough to calm the storm within him. Green melted into hazel as Aiolia finally found his voice. She was ready and waiting.

"42…" he whispered, hands gripping with bruising force on her forearms. "42 minor fractures, 19 serious ones, 13 clean breaks, 4 half healed ones, 6 fully knitted the wrong way, a dislocated knee, and a wrist that had snapped a ligament, torn muscled strained tendon, that's what I found."

He let go of his lover rolling over on the rug in front of the fire that they'd moved on to. She followed him wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him back to pillow his head on her. Aiolia's eyes were filled with firelight.

"I never noticed before, how brittle bones sounded when they broke," he continued. "It was just one of those things I never thought to pay attention to. "Theres a little creak at first you know. While it gives a little, trying to resist bend….and then snap."

Aiolia laughed dryly.

"I had to force him…violate his mind and turn off his consciousness to get him to sleep through it. And even then…he almost woke up three times. That must have hurt something awful," green eyes stared down that fingers that had begun to quiver oh so slightly at the memory. "He whimpered in his dreams, you know? He could definitely feel it."

Marin sighed, as she pressed her forehead into the thick golden curls and too a deep breath.

"I think, you've forgotten more about Seiya than you realize," She said with a sigh. "It may have been kinder to leave him awake."

"Marin…" Aiolia swivled around to protest.

"Hear me out," the red haired woman cut him off. "Seiya…is a special boy. Not only because he is the god slayer, but also because he had far more control over himself than anybody should."

"Are you sure about that?" She stroked his cheek carefully.

" Yes…Seiya has always been in more control than he really knew, If Seiya does not want to hurt, he won't. He can convince his own body to accomplish feats that even a saints could never do. I don't know how he developed it, but I never sought to alter it. Every saint needs a way to stay sane in the field. I was glad he found just a simple way to cope. The only time this control ever slips when he falls asleep."

"…So that's how he managed it," green eyes widened at the implications. "That's how he survived taking Alde head on. So…he just forgets his pain then?..and can even walk and fight? It's like forcing a broken machine to keep running. Damn that kid! What a butt load of trouble. That's how he can use cave-ins as training."

"What?"

Aiolia gave her a wry smile.

"Guess what I found out yesterday." The silver saint fell silent. "He's been doing it for 6 months; 6 months of triggering cave-ins, 6 months of causing avalanches and bringing down the mountains on top of himself. And he had the gall to tell me that he didn't regret any of it."

Aiolia sat up, restlessness dragging him from the furry rug. His face was savage with undirected anger.

"He said he was glad that, for once, everything turned out ok?" A snarl rumbled in the air. "What the _fuck_ is that supposed to mean? That what we did, what we gave our lives for, didn't? That finally defeating Hades forever wasn't good enough? Who was it that filled his head with these grand delusions they we could live through the holy war without losses. Who made him think that he had to save every goddamn soul by himself?"

"Aiolia, calm…"

"I can't! Don't tell me that!"

Their silence was an oppressive one, pressing in from all sides. Aiolia on his part had begun to sweat again the beads of perspiration glinted harshly off his skin.

"What did I do wrong, Marin?"

The silver saint took a deep breath, her cool composure seeping back into her voice. Marin, in truth, had never needed a mask to cover herself with. When she next spoke, he voice felt almost physically cold.

"You know very well that I don't deal with the things," she reminded him firmly. "I have always moved on; acknowledged the past; but eventually, I continue."

He did not bother to look at her. It was too late.

"That is why Athena brought you home, Aiolia, because I can't help what I don't understand," she continued. "You and Seiya, you're astoundingly alike. Neither of you are able to let things go completely. You insist on taking responsibilities for actions that were never yours to deny or condone, and drown yourself into misplaced guilt."

She crawled back over to kneel before her lover pressing her forehead to his.

"It is not what you did wrong, either of you. It's what you need to teach him to do right."

"You want me to teach Seiya to blame other people for his misfortune?" the blond man smiled sardonically.

"I want you to teach your child how to live." Her voice was firm, almost demanding.

"My…"

"Let's nto fool ourselves, Aiolia, he is yours. He has always been yours." For the first time that evening, they shared a smile, a bitter, twisted, unnatural smile but a real smile nonetheless. "You could have let him use my room. It's still immaculate."

"Nah…we both know it wouldn't have worked."

On impulse, he reach out to her again pulling Marin into a warm embrace, tight but brief. She let him, and amused smile crossing her face. They were brisk and efficient by the time they got up, shrugging back into their clothes, somewhat cleaning up. With a final kiss, Marin's face disappeared once again behind the cold steel, becoming the enigmatic Aquila saint once more.

"Good night, Aiolia…and good luck." She left silently, like the wind, with not a single glance behind.

For the Leo's part, he returned to his room and climbed into bed. Softly, he carded his hands through the wild chocolate colored hair of a young Pegasus saint who, though he had somehow forced himself into a half trance, was definitely not asleep. Aiolia stared for a while.

He really wasn't cut out for this babysitting bullshit.

The moment he was within reach it was as if there was a magnet pulling them together. A curious button nose found the hollow of his throat and arms latched around his wait automatically.

Aiolia was starting to wonder if maybe asleep was the only time Seiya ever allowed himself to want things.

"Or rather…do you even realize that you're lying to yourself at all?" He murmured softly as he pulled the child protectively against his chest, planting a soft kiss on the sweaty forehead. Seiya gave a soft snuffle, and finally settled down.


End file.
